Clipboard Art Display

A clipboard is such a perfect way to display a child's art because it makes it so easy to hang and easy to change.  It's also fun to customize a plain clipboard.  The first thing I did was tape the clip hardware, covering it completely with painter's tape.  To paint this clipboard I lightly sanded and then spray-painted it white.  (I didn't have a spray can of primer, so I just used white paint as a primer.)

Then I painted the clipboard with this paint and a foam brush.

My last step was to use my gold leaf pen to make the silver clip part look metallic gold.

*Tip - I've used this pen for a lot of different projects - I recommend having one around!

This pic shows the clipboard right after it was hung, on moving weekend.

In this pic, it's serving it's purpose by showcasing my niece's artwork!  

Thrift Store Score - The Office Clue Board Game

I am a HUGE fan of The Office - it's my favorite TV show ever.  I watch the entire series on Netflix over and over.  I also love the game Clue and board games in general.  So when I saw this at Goodwill for $1.99 it was an easy decision to buy it.  It did have an "As Is" sticker on it, which made me worried that a bunch of pieces were missing, but I took the chance and bought it.

I opened it up to assess and every single piece was there - in good shape - in fact, it looked like the game had only been played twice.  Exciting!  Also a fun surprise - I paid $21.00 less than if I had bought it used on Amazon.

Colorful Circle Wall Art

The picture above was my inspiration. I knew I wanted to replicate it, so I did some experimenting.  My first thought was to design it on the computer and have it printed.  I decided against this for two reasons: I really wanted it 12x12 and the only printing options were expensive and would have to be shipped to me, making them time consuming and in my inspiration, there is more color variation and texture within each circle.  So I decided to look for a new method.

I thought maybe to get the look I wanted, I needed to use water.  I also thought it would be easiest to use a hole punch to make a stencil and then paint within the stencil.  

Experimenting with punching out the circles and painting them with watercolors.

Finally I settled on punching out circles and painting them with acrylic paint.  I did a lot of paint mixing to achieve different shades.  It was really fun and made me feel like an artist!!

This part of the project was less artist and more engineer.  There was a lot of measuring involved.  

Yea - all the measuring is done and I get to arrange all the colorful circles!

36 circles were needed - I made what felt like 100, but as I was placing I rejected some if they were too similar to other colors.  So I ended up going back to the painting step to make 8 more.

Yea - they're all made and in their places.  That one - second row, five from the left - I used my gold leaf pen to do that one.  

After the pic above, I used double sided glue dots to attach each dot in place.  Then I found a white square 12x12 frame at Michael's.

Here it is all put together:

And here it is in it's place on my niece Hadley's gallery wall!!!

I think it's such a fun, cheery room!!

Thrift Store Score - Cafe Terrace at Night Wall Art

I found this framed Van Gogh print at Goodwill for around $3.00.  I've always liked it, so I bought it and put it up in my office.  

To buy this online would be $63.00!

Bunting Wall Art

This project was very easy and definitely cute, colorful and on-trend for a little girl's room!

I started with a 12x12 colored canvas.

Then I picked out colorful scrapbook paper.

Then I created a template, which I'm sharing with you!

Bunting Template

I used this pattern to cut out the bunting and then I used double stick tape to attach each piece to the canvas.  

 

 

Thrift Store Score - 3 Tiered China Stand

I'm trying something new - every Thursday I'm going to share something I found at a thrift store, Goodwill or garage sale and share why I believe it was a good find.  These posts will all be titled: Thrift Store Score!  

I bought this at Goodwill for $9.99 (which is more than I normally spend on one item at Goodwill) because I just redecorated my living room in blue and because it is such a unique piece.  

When I got home and started looking at comparables, I discovered it was a good price!

Let me know what you think of these new posts!

String Art

I've been seeing string art everywhere!  I wanted to try making a piece and I thought the perfect place to test it out was in Hadley's room with a little heart.  It adds amazing texture to a gallery wall.  

They're pretty simple to make.  You figure out your base.  (Determine the size and color of wood block you need and paint/stain/cut to get it prepared.)  I started with a pretty thin piece of wood and it split in a few places from the nails, so I had to get a thicker piece.  I painted mine white with spray paint.

Then you create a template using Word.  

Then you just put your paper over the wood and start nailing.  I used white paneling nails from Walmart.

Then you begin stringing.  The first and last piece are tricky because they need to be glued.  Before the randomness, I went around the outline of the heart.  After that, it's just random stringing!